Used cooking oil or waste vegetable oil from McDonald's and Chinese fast
food restaurants is collected and refined to recycle oil for production
of biodiesel. Other vegetable oils - including crude palm oil,
rapeseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, cotton-seed oil, jatropha oil -
are used for the production of renewable alternative energy to reduce
carbon emissions.

There is very little activity in the biodiesel market right now. With a sharply falling tendency, the prices of UCO paradoxically remain at a very reasonable level. This results mainly from a significant decline in the product collection during the Christmas season and from the fact that several buyers are short of UCO for January & February. A 25% decline in UCO collection in Europe is estimated between December and late January due to Christmas holidays, fewer guests in restaurants because of the redistribution of household

budgets to Christmas gifts, sales and taxes. If prices of UCOME EU do not improve in the coming weeks, this trend of a slight increase in UCO ISCC EU will not be justified, and will induce a reduction in production margins for biodiesel producers. In January, the price is between €700 and €730 per ton for European collectors and between $910 and $945 per ton CIF Europe with iodine value superior to 80 and 5% of acidity oils.
In contrast, UCO on the German market has been in a crisis since December. The price difference between the UCO ISCC DE and EU lowers more and more. Now, the premium for UCO certified ISCC / RED CERT DE is only between €20 and €40. The demand for UCO with ISCC DE is now weak and the level of inventory of UCO ISSC / RED DE is increasing in collectors’ and traders’ storages.
Regarding the legislation, the Dutch authorities now require a Commercial Accompaniment Document (CAD) instead of the WTN. It is the same document as for transactions of animal fat CAT 3 in connection with the Directive No. 1069/2009, which raises a question whether the document should be signed by veterinarian authorities also for UCO. Such a change can imply serious complications because normally veterinary services do not consider UCO to be an animal byproduct. The classification of UCO as an animal by-product in all the documentation is being studied globally in Europe. To be followed closely.
The year 2013 ends with the announcement of direct investment in new production units by European producers: Ad-Biodiesel (80,000 tons), Esterner (75,000 tons), Biodiesel Amsterdam (150,000 tons), Biom (100,000 tons). Pressures on feedstock will be felt very quickly and will be the main challenge for the coming years.